Sydney's School Stories

Weekly Math Rotations Grouping I put students into 5 homogenous groups. I group students by using a unit's pretest scores, exit tickets or quick quizzes throughout the course of a unit, STAR tests (these are tests that predict / track end of year SBA scores), and what I notice as a teacher.  There are about 5-6 students per group. I color code student's names with their group- this makes it easier for students to look at the smart-board and know what group they are in.  This year I have more boys than girls, but I do try to have both boys and girls in each group. I put students who are quiet with students who are chatty and try to make sure that kids have someone they like in their group.   Weekly Math Rotations

My students have been really struggling with adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. I did a math talk with them and realized that many students lack a foundational understanding of what a fraction means and struggle with multiplication/division facts. I have been working with students in small groups and spent over 2 weeks teaching equivalent fractions, listing out multiples, etc. I was feeling defeated most of this week- I had tried lots of different teaching strategies but none seemed to be working. As a teacher its easy to feel like you've let the kids who just can't seem to get it down- I felt especially like this and tired because of back to school nights and just getting back into the 1st month of school routine. BUT THEN... On Friday- I reached out to our ITCL and admin and we talked about different strategies we could implement to support kids who lack a basic understanding of fractions. I decided to help each student create their own fraction b...

I introduced the concept of customary units of measurement by having the students walk around the room with rulers and measure their friends and items in the classroom.  I also had students trace a ruler into their math notebooks and mark the 12 inches that make up one foot. Getting students up and moving is great for student engagement & conceptual development.